14" Veritar what can I expect?

Richard Wasserman · Dec 4, 2005

It's a long story, but I am the new owner of a 14 inch Veritar in an aluminum barrel, no shutter. I realize that I really need to try this beast out for myself,but I'm wondering if anyone can give me an idea of what this lens can do. I will be using it on 8x10 and I guess I'll be buying a Jim Galli special shutter soon. Either that or I'll use my hat...

My research indicates that this is not one of the best soft focus lenses ever made. Please tell me I'm wrong. Thanks

Richard Wasserman

df cardwell · Dec 4, 2005

http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/info/wollensakcatd/veritar.html
http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/info/wollensakcatd/veritarb.html

Check this out. The Veritar is a superb lens: yours research was... misleading.

.

jonw · Dec 4, 2005

I think you will like the 14" Veritar. Here is an example of my daughter with my 10" (254mm) Veritar in an Alphax shutter. (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

check around, I believe the 14" Veritar can be installed in a shutter. Jim Galli sniped me out of a 14" Veritar in an alphax shutter a couple months ago....and it still hurts! No Jim, I do not want the patent rights on your 5x7 shutter, but would agree to save your wife's Christmas by buying your P&S wollensak or even the 14" veritar you sniped.

BTW Jim, you still got my LUV despite your sniping (sp).

MattCarey · Dec 4, 2005

disfromage said:
My research indicates that this is not one of the best soft focus lenses ever made. Please tell me I'm wrong. Thanks

Add to your research eBay sales. These are not cheap lenses.

Matt

Richard Wasserman · Dec 4, 2005

Thanks guys! Things are looking up. I of course will play with this lens and see what it does and if I like it. I think it will be a bit of a challenge using an f/6 lens without a shutter, but slow film and Jim Galli's darkslide shuter should do the
trick. I'll be sure to report back as soon as have some results.

Richard

smieglitz · Dec 4, 2005

I had a 10" Veritar in Alphax at one time and didn't care for it. I expected it to be a modern version of the Verito with all the neat diffusion but in a working shutter that was synched for flash. It turned out to simply be a soft-focus lens, not one with pronounced diffusion.

So, my expectations were not met. That doesn't mean it isn't a good portrait lens, just that it isn't a Verito. I suspect it would be more like a portrait Heliar from what I've read and examples seen online. Depending on what you want to do with it, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Joe

Brook · Dec 4, 2005

At f6 you probably dont have to get a new mule to haul it around. A lot of the faster f4-3.8 lenses are just plain to big to put on most cameras. I thought I was going to get an f4 16" petzval on my 8x10 B&J till I saw it. It would have torn the front standard off the camera. of course that was all the reason I needed to buy a studio camera...

JG Motamedi · Dec 5, 2005

From what I have read, the Veritar is the same 3/2 design (singlet in front, cemented doublet in rear) as the Verito, but were coated, color corrected, and a full stop slower. These differences, particularly the color correction, could account for why Joe reports less diffusion than expected--or desired. In any case, you will never know if you like the lens until you use it.

removed account4 · Dec 5, 2005

hi richard --

i have both a 14 + 10" veritar. while it isn't a verito, the veritar will give you a nice image. it is nice because it is in a modern shutter (sometimes) and give you more than a single and sometimes random shutter speed. i usually shoot mine wide open, and don't bother stopping it down any, and i have shot color as well as black/white with it. can't really complain too much -- its much smaller than a vitax (bazooka) and the verito (howitzer).

have fun - and let us know how you like it.

-john

Ben Diss · Dec 5, 2005

Here's a pic of my son take with a 14 Veritar. I love this lens.

Struan Gray · Dec 5, 2005

These were taken with a 14" Verito on 4x5:

Dead Link Removed

Half a second at f8 (we don't hold with no sunny sixteen round here). I used a Sinar shutter to get a half-second that a four-year old couldn't mess up, and let them take each others portraits. The Verito I have, kindly loaned to me by John Stafford, projects rear-wards too much to mount with the shutter on the front standard, so I put it on an intermediate standard and bridged the gap with a bag bellows. If I had a flash that was safe to use around kids, this would give me flash sync too.

It works. I liked the results more than I expected.

14" Veritar what can I expect?

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